“I want to know who thought they could take you from me,” Peter said. He bared his teeth as he spoke, his eyes drifting over to the front of the car.
“Oh, right.” Chad nodded, closing his eyes when Peter lowered his face back down to press it into his neck. “That makes sense.”
Peter stayed plastered to Chad’s front, pressing him up against the car, breathing in his scent and holding him tight until Merchant arrived in his obnoxious SUV ten minutes later. He pulled up behind the police cruiser and jumped out of the vehicle, boots crunching the gravel as he landed.
“Merchant is here,” Chad said, tapping Peter on his side. Peter ignored him, pressing him even harder into the car behind him. The position had gone from comforting to uncomfortable about five minutes ago, but Chad wasn’t going to complain.
Merchant walked toward them with his usual swagger, stopping well short of where Chad and Peter was standing.
“Mr. Tank?” he said, his voice unusually respectful. “Status?”
Peter stepped back with a reluctant sigh, but when he turned toward Merchant he was all business. He delivered a clipped but efficient rundown of everything that had happened, after which he looked to Chad. “Anything to add?”
Chad shook his head. Peter had mentioned everything he could think of.
“Then we’ll be off. Coordinate with Dawn and report to me tomorrow morning.” Peter slipped his hand up to Chad’s neck, steering him away from Merchant and around the car.
“Will do,” Merchant called out, sounding very amused as Peter led Chad toward the edge of the road. Chad looked at Peter’s bike parked on the strip of grass splitting the highway, and wondered if they were really going to ride it back to the apartment. He didn’t have a helmet, and his legs were starting to feel like jelly now that the adrenaline was wearing off.
“Come on,” Peter said, pushing him forward when there was a break in traffic. They jogged across the two empty lanes separating them from the bike, Peter’s hand never leaving his neck. When they reached the grass, Peter grabbed his helmet from where it was resting on the seat of the bike and handed it to Chad. “Put it on.”
Chad didn’t object. He pulled the helmet over his head and adjusted the strap until it was pulled tight and watched as Peter mounted the bike. Peter slid forward so that Chad could get on behind him, his jacket cut just short enough that his muscular ass was on full display.
It was almost enough to distract Chad from how hard he was crashing.
“Get on, Chad,” Peter ordered, and Chad realized that he hadn’t moved at all since pulling on his helmet.
Getting to it, Chad lifted his leg over the powerful machine, his thigh trembling, and reached around Peter’s waist and held on tight.
Usually Chad loved being on the back of Peter’s bike, his hands free to roam however they pleased, but right now he just wanted to be home.
“Ready?” Peter asked, kicking the bike into gear and turning it around so that they were facing in the direction of the city.
“Yeah,” Chad said, pressing himself forward and squeezing Peter tighter.
Peter nodded, and at the next break in traffic they were off.
***
